"Don't. The area is not secure yet." Curaitis' icy blue eyes sparked with anger. "You should leave."
"I'll leave after you tell me what happened." Victor stared defiantly up at his security chief. "And don't omit any details."
"As you wish, my Prince." Curaitis clasped his hands together at the small of his back. "At approximately seven-ten PM, three individuals entered the elevator lobby area through elevator number two. Shortly after their arrival, a volunteer, Francesca Jenkins, approached them. We do not know what was said, but she must have realized they were no ordinary visitors. Apparently she got a Mauser & Grey needle pistol away from one of them and killed the other two. The man whose gun she took had another pistol. He fired two shots that knocked her into this overturned couch here.
"Ms. Jenkins had called for help when she took the gun from the first man and that brought Joshua's guards running. They saw her get shot by the man down by the elevators there. They killed him."
"No one got near Joshua?"
"He slept through the whole thing."
Victor glanced past Curaitis at the overturned couch. "What happened to the woman?"
"She's undergoing emergency surgery right now. One bullet pulverized part of her left hip. The other one nicked her heart and punctured both lungs. Had the assassin been using a needle pistol, she'd be dead. As it is, her chances of survival are very small."
The Prince exhaled audibly. "Spare no expense for her, Curaitis. Whatever she needs, let the NAIS give it to her. She probably saved Joshua's life."
"The staff is aware of that, Highness." Curaitis pointed off toward the location of Joshua's suite. "The two guards who killed the last man have been pulled out for debriefing, but they wouldn't go until they'd donated blood for her."
"An excellent idea, I'll do the same. She's a hero and we'll make certain everyone knows it."
Irritation shot through Curaitis' voice. "Your office would be a better place to take care of such information-management problems."
The man's tone stung Victor, but he reined his anger back. He's right. I'm thinking about the chance for good press when this attack represents a major security breach. If Joshua had been killed—murdered—there would be hell to pay. He looked up at Curaitis. "Any identification on the men?"
"Nothing solid. They carried no IDs, no labels in their clothes, though the shoes are sold fairly exclusively in uniform shops and places catering to ex-military or police types. Specialty surplus shops mostly. We might get lucky there. Edgars was here earlier—he worked in Regional Ops for New Avalon before coming over to Internal Investigations. He thought he remembered the fat one on the floor from the Justin Allard murder investigation." Curaitis frowned. "Edgars is good, so I take his comments seriously, but it's too soon to know."
"If that man was connected to Justin Allard's murder, then he was an agent of the Capellan Confederation." The full import of that realization made Victor slump back against the wall. "Is Sun-Tzu stupid enough to try to kill Joshua? Something that would anger both me and Thomas? With his realm wedged between us, that is hardly a wise move."
"So it would seem, Highness."
Why would Sun-Tzu do it? What could he gain? The most he could have hoped was that the return of Joshua's body to the Free Worlds League might lead to discovery of a double. But Sun-Tzu would have needed to know about the double in advance to come up with this plan, and he couldn't have known about the switch.
Victor's jaw dropped open. My father got the idea of substituting a double for Joshua because Sun-Tzu's grandfather once plotted to replace my father with a double, and almost succeeded in putting his own puppet on the throne of the old Federated Suns. If Sun-Tzu guessed at the possibility of a substitute, or even intended to manufacture evidence to prove to Thomas that I'd put a double in his son's place ... Thomas's gratitude to Sun-Tzu would have firmly cemented their relationship.
"Curaitis, check the bodies for syringes or scalpels or anything they could have used to take tissue or blood samples."
The dark-haired security man paused for the briefest second, then nodded. "Another wrinkle."
Victor almost laughed out loud. Another wrinkle! He hadn't had a full night's sleep since the day they'd actually begun Project Gemini. Victor also suddenly realized he didn't even know the name of the boy who was risking and enduring so much for reasons he couldn't possibly understand. The whole operation could blow wide open if the scandal vids got wind of any of it. And now, with Sun-Tzu running operations against Joshua, the pressure over the situation was building to a point where Victor could only expect the worst.
This cannot continue. We need time to let this story die down, then we'll let Joshua die and return his body to Thomas. If it costs me worlds, then it costs worlds, but this stops now.
The Prince tapped Curaitis on the shoulder. "I think I know what happened here."
"Yes, Highness?"
"I think you will find these three were tied, covertly, to a fledgling Zhanzheng de guang cell here on New Avalon. Like their Zhanzheng de guang comrades on Zurich, these desperate men did not balk at carrying out attacks against children. Before they could act, a hospital volunteer bravely and selflessly opposed them to save Joshua and the other children on the ward, then our guards gunned them down."
Curaitis nodded slowly. "Your ability to read a crime scene is impressive, Highness. It probably also tells you that we are not certain whether these three acted alone or in concert with other confederates in the area. Caution would dictate that you leave immediately."
"Good point, Curaitis. The Zhanzheng de guang are known for their tenacity." Victor tugged his cap on and headed for the elevator. "As soon as I give blood, I'll be home again safe and sound."
20
Wars are caused either by women or priests.
—Czech proverb
Marik Palace, Atreus
Marik Commonwealth, Free Worlds League
16 September 3057
Thomas Marik, Captain-General of the Free Worlds League, ignored the teleprompter and looked directly into the lens of the holovid camera. He wanted to project himself through the camera to all of his people. Intellectually he knew the limitations of the medium, but he wanted this holovid to be more than just the message. The people might not understand why he was doing what he must, but he wanted them to know that he did understand why it was vital to go to war with the Federated Commonwealth.
"Fellow citizens, were there another course open to me, I would never have led you into a war in which we are the aggressor. There is nobility in defending one's homeworld against invasion, but naked aggression is without honor and boasts no defense.
"Our aggression is not naked, however, but is clothed in righteousness. Perhaps it would more rightly be called an aggressive defense of our future. Our way of life, our traditions, have been threatened by a crime so foul, so hideous, so shameful that I would deny you knowledge of it, had I a choice. Because of the nature of my response to this crime, I must reveal it to you, in all its sordid detail, and those facts will be made public within the next twenty-four hours. Until then, a briefer explanation must suffice."
Thomas consciously hesitated, reinforcing the impression of his reluctance to share with them the information he possessed. He softened his expression, then swallowed hard and only allowed his sorrow to show in the tightness at the corners of his eyes.
"I have evidence, incontrovertible evidence, that the Joshua Marik under care in the Federated Commonwealth is not my son. He is, in fact, a minion of Victor Davion. Davion's purpose in substituting this other child for my son is obvious: he wishes to put his puppet in the Captain-General's place at the helm of this nation.
"The evidence was obtained at great risk by a noble agent of the Free Worlds League. It consists of a blood sample from the imposter, which was then compared to my blood sample in a DNA match. The procedure was simple enough to perform that my agent used a science kit to do it. It is simple enough that, using blood supplies at hand in
the New Avalon Institute of science, Victor Davion himself could duplicate the results. The simple results of this simple test tell me simply that the Joshua Marik on New Avalon is not my son."
Again Thomas stopped, but this time the pause was not planned. He bit back the pain of his loss, then pushed on. "I am forced to assume that my son is dead. Given the nature of his illness, such an outcome was not unexpected. What was unexpected was Victor Davion's cold and cruel and calculated attempt to take advantage of my loss, our loss, to further his own political ends. Unable to govern the realm his butchered mother left to him, he dabbles in the internal politics of his neighbors, desperately hoping to absorb them into his faltering empire."
Thomas' face became a steely mask of controlled anger. "At best Victor Davion is a kidnapper, an extortionist, and an abuser of children. At worst he is the most diabolical leader in the Inner Sphere since Stefan Amaris destroyed the Star League. I find it inconceivable that any person would be content to live under the dominion of such a monster, but that is not a judgment I can make.
"What I can do, and what I have done, is decide that no one who wishes to be liberated from the Davion yoke need endure his oppression any longer. Toward this end I have begun the re-occupation of former Free Worlds League planets taken by the Federated Commonwealth a quarter of a century ago. In addition, I will support self-determination movements in the similarly occupied Capellan systems of the Sarna March. With my Knights of the Inner Sphere, I will back those who wish to determine for themselves who will rule them and what their future will be."
Thomas took a deep breath. "I know this means war, and war means hardship, privation, and death. As Sophocles said, 'War prefers its victims young.' Before the first shot was fired, this war cost me my youngest child, so I already know the pain and fear you, my people, will face as this campaign unfolds. I would never ask of you what I would not be willing to do myself, and I know you join me in the depth of my commitment to freeing people and planets from Davion subjugation.
"This is not a war of conquest to capture worlds or industries. It is a war of ideals and a collision of philosophies that cannot abide one another. To Victor Davion, everyone exists to feed his nation's hunger for power. For us, the people are the only source of power and we hold their future in trust. It is for that future that we fight."
"It is for that future we must fight." Thomas Marik nodded solemnly to his people. "And it is in the name of that future that we will triumph."
21
It is the fashion these days to make war, and presumably it will last a while yet.
—Frederick the Great in a letter to Voltaire
Charleston, Woodstock
Sarna March, Federated Commonwealth
16 September 3057
Having already packed his clothes and other personal effects, Larry Acuff sat back in his Bachelor Officers Quarters' suite and flicked the holovideo monitor on. He left his bags sitting next to the door and dropped himself onto the couch. Phoebe Derden-Pinkey said she'd call before leaving her office to drive him over to a farewell dinner with his parents. Two days later he'd be back aboard the Starbride, heading back to Solaris.
Using the remote control, Larry switched up to the 'MechWar Network broadcast through Recital City Cable. He'd be back on the Game World just before Christmas, with plenty of time to enter the Grand Tournament that would decide the new Champion in January. With Kai opting out, Larry knew there would be a major scramble for the top spot. He wasn't sure how well he'd do, but he figured a low teens, high single-digit finish was not out of his reach. And if a few other warriors eliminate one another, I could sail into the finals.
Larry instantly recognized the two fighters going at it on the screen. Liz O'Bannon in her Marauder II stalked after Adam Wiley's BattleMaster through the jungles of the Liao arena. He'd fought Wiley back in his Class Three days and could see old Adam was getting the worst of the fight, despite being in the Jungle—a venue Wiley preferred. The littie color bars on the edges of the images showed that both 'Mechs were running hot, but even more significant was that Wiley was running away.
Suddenly the image dissolved into boiling static, then slowly faded into the image of an amateurish stage set. Larry hit a button, but the next channel and the next showed the same image. On the screen were two men in dark green paramilitary fatigues seated behind a folding table. Over their faces were red bandannas and perched on their heads were red berets. A hand-lettered banner behind them read "Woodstock Eco-Liberation Force Alliance to Restore Equality."
"This has got to be a bad joke." Larry leaned forward and punched the remote button a few more times. The channel number changed, but the image remained the same. "What the hell is going on?"
He heard a hoarsely whispered, "Go, action, start!", then the man on the left lifted a trembling sheaf of papers and began to read.
"People of Woodstock, we have taken control of the satellite broadcasting facilities to inform you of our intent to liberate you from the destructive, chemo-terrorist regime led by Victor Davion. With his criminal complicity, the interstellar corporations who control the agro-combines here on Woodstock have poisoned our water and soil for the express purpose of raping our world. They exploit Woodstock's fecundity, reaping profits from what we sow and selling it to people on other worlds ..."
The visiphone bleated at him, and Larry reached over to answer without looking away from the holovideo. "Acuff here."
"Larry, are you watching the holovid?"
"Yes, Phoebe, I am. What is this?"
"I don't know, but it's coming over all the radios, too."
He looked over at the visiphone and saw that Phoebe was obviously worried. "You mean this isn't a joke?"
"I wish it was." She held up a blue sheet of paper with a red stripe running across the corner. "This just came in through ComStar. We're all on alert now. Leaves are canceled and you're back in the AFFC."
Larry's jaw dropped open. "What the hell's going on?"
"I don't know, but it appears we're at war with the Free Worlds League."
"Oh, my god." Larry glanced back at holovideo. "Then who are these clowns?"
"I don't know that either, but this call-up is for real." Phoebe shook her head. "Whoever these Eco-Liberation people are, a Free Worlds League JumpShip has just shown up in system, and the first message they broadcast says they're here to support WELFARE's war of liberation against tyrannical Davion rule."
Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Commonwealth
Victor Davion sat in reverent silence as he stared at the holographic display of the Inner Sphere. The computer always showed the Federated Commonwealth as a broad swath of gold that narrowed somewhat near Terra, but now numerous worlds in the central area were flashing purple and green, indicating incursions by Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation troops. Yet other worlds had the intensity of their golden color muted, indicating various levels of civil unrest, from demonstrations to outright rebellion.
Above the map, Thomas Marik's scarred visage hung trapped in a box two and a half centimeters square. His mouth moved, but Victor heard nothing. He'd killed the sound during his second viewing of the message that had been broadcast throughout the Free Worlds League. His own intelligence network had gotten him a copy of it before the Marik ambassador could deliver one, but that was the only good news he'd had that day.
"Well played, Thomas. Very well played." Victor looked through the holo map at Jerrard Cranston and Curaitis. "What is the soonest landfall of his troops, Jerry?"
Galen looked down at his computer console. "The League brought their troops in at pirate jump points at Callison, Denebola, Marcus, Talitha, Van Diemen IV, and Wasat. They'll achieve planetfall in two to four days on each of those worlds. We estimate they're hitting each target world with at least three regiments. Every other place they're hitting they're coming in a bit lighter and will take a week to ten days to land."
Victor nodded slowly. "And the Lia
o attacks?"
"Pirate points and five regiments going into the planet Liao in two days; everything else is a week or more."
"Five regiments, and all I have is a virgin militia unit protecting that world."
Galen shook his head. "Liao is well away from Capellan worlds. We no more anticipated Thomas letting Sun-Tzu ferry troops up to Zion to attack Liao than we anticipated the attack."
"How could we have missed it? These must have been signs." Victor wished for an instant that the display before him was glass, not glowing light, so he could smash it to bits. His hands tightened into fists, but he controlled his rage and forced his hands open. "We were aware of his troops building up on the borders, weren't we?"
Galen nodded emphatically. "We were, but the build-ups were carried out as if they were normal Marik redeployment exercises. It's standard procedure for the league to bring troops from the interior to the border, then rotate the border troops back to the interior. We were able to obtain the normal redeployment intelligence we always get when they do this. For all we know, the troops themselves thought they were heading back to the interior before they jumped out into our systems."
The Prince slid his chair back from the black lucite table in his briefing room and stood. "I can see how that happened, but we're obviously working too much off assumptions, and not enough off known facts. We assumed, for example, that even if Thomas did learn of Joshua's death he, being a man of peace and reason, would bargain for worlds, not take them."
"Agreed, that was a lousy assumption." Galen shrugged. "It was based on what we know about him. He has ever been a conciliator. Even the formation of his Knights of the Inner Sphere was seen as a philosophical event, not a military one.'
"Is this philosophy, too?"
"I don't know, Highness. I'm not certain what we know."